Ash Wednesday, February 14
Read Isaiah 58:1-14
Isn't this the fast I choose:
releasing wicked restraints, untying the ropes of a yoke,
setting free the mistreated,
and breaking every yoke?
(Isaiah 58:6 CEB)
As a kid, my first experiences with the Lenten season all revolved around giving up things for the season. We'd go to church on Ash Wednesday, receive the ashes on our foreheads, and excitedly discuss what we'd chosen for our fast. Some things were easy: giving up giving things up for Lent. Others were hard: giving up chocolate or soda. Still others seemed impossible: giving up coffee or sarcasm. Regardless, the focus was always on the sacrifice: "What amount of difficulty are you willing to endure for Jesus?" It wasn't until seminary that I started to see things differently, thanks largely to these words from Isaiah. All that time, I'd been giving things up for the sake of suffering-fasting from something I enjoyed. Yet, Isaiah says that God is far more interested in what we are willing to fast for.
Suffering isn't the point. Instead, the point is freeing up space, time, money, and energy for the sake of what God loves: justice and compassion. Giving up an expensive habit frees up money that can be spent helping others. Giving up something that consumes my time gives me more time I can use for the sake of my community. This type of fasting-fasting for-is what God calls us to choose as we walk in the way of Jesus.
Prayer: Holy One, as we enter this sacred season, set our feet on the path of justice and compassion. Guide our steps and open our hearts, that we might be led into deeper relationship with our neighbors and with you. Amen.
Lara Blackwood Pickrel